Hollow building-brick.



No. 797350. PATENTED AUG. 22, 1905.

0. FURSI'ER.

HOLLOW BUILDING BRICK.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, 1904.

y gz amwge w UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFIon.

HOLLOW- BUILDING-BRICK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 22, 1905.

Application filed May 26, 1904. Serial No. 209,917.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTO FoRsTER, architect, a citizen of the Empire ofGermany, and a resident of 36 I-Iubertus Allee, Grunewald, near Berlin,Germany, have made certain new and useful Improvements in I-IollowBuilding Bricks or Stones, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to hollow building stones or bricks havingabreak-away staypiece provided at its junctions with the body of thebrick with separating-grooves formed on the inside and outside surfacesfor the. purpose of facilitating the breaking away of the saidstay-piece.

It has already been proposed to make onesided hollow bricks with abreak-away staypiece for the purpose of holding the body of the bricktogether with the object of preventing distortion or deformation of thebrick in drying or burning, the breaking away of the stay-piece beingfacilitated by the provision of separating-grooves in the same; but thatkind of brick has not proved successful in practice, because by reasonof the wrong arrangement of the separatinggrooves the bricks were mostlydestroyed in breaking away the stay-piece. The reason of that drawbackwas that in breaking away the stay-piece the latter exerted a pressureupon the sides of the body of the brick, and consequently the bricksplit on the side opposite to the stay-piece. Now that drawback isobviated according to this invention by arranging the separating-groovesin such a manner that no lateral pressure can arise in breaking away thestay-piece. With this object the inner separating-grooves are arrangedbetween the outer separating-grooves and the body of the brick, and'theyextend so far into the stay-piece that their ends are situated almost inthe same plane or may even overlap each other in the case of thickstaypieces, so that the stay-piece is suspended, as it were, and inbeing broken away does not exert any pressure upon the sides or walls ofthe brick, but exerts merely a downward pull. This arrangement may beemployed in bricks of special sections, as well as 1n bricks of standardsection. Bricks having break-away stay-pieces have a great industrialvalue in many respects. Thus solid ceilings can be made ofspecial-section bricks by arranging the cavities of the bricks to formpassages extending over the whole ceiling, said cavities after thestay-pieces have The new brick may also be used for surrounding the ironbars and girders of ironframework buildings in order to prevent themfrom getting rusty and to give the building the appearance as if it werebuilt throughout from bricks.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1. is a side elevation of a brick of special section providedwith a break-away stay-piece. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a brick ofstandard section.

The body a of the brick is formed with the cavities b and d, of whichthe cavity 6 is closed in by the break-away stay-piece 0. Obviously,instead of the two cavities a single cavity or more than one cavity maybe provided. At the junctions of the stay-piece with the body of thebrick outer separatinggrooves f are provided extending inward, andinside the brick inner grooves g are provided extending outward betweenthe outer grooves f and the inner sides or walls of the body of thebrick. The grooves f and 9 extend into the stay-piece to about the samehorizontal plane k 76, Fig. 1. In the case of very thick or very narrowstay-pieces the grooves f and 9 may overlap each other for the purposeof facilitating the breaking away of the stay-piece.

The provision of the stay-piece has for object to protect bricks ofspecial and standard sections not only from becoming deformed duringmanufacture, but also from becoming broken during transport. Theimproved brick may be used either as a closed brick or as an open brick.In the former case the staypiece is not broken away.

From Figs. 1 and 2 it will be perceived that in breaking away thestay-piece it breaks away in a downward direction at the line 7c 7c,connecting the ends of the grooves f and g with each other, and thatsufficient space is provided to obviate the possibility of the parts ofthe stay-piece or the stay-piece itself exerting pressure upon thesidesor walls. In the case of the brick of standard section shown inFig. 2 the brick breaks away in the direction of the lines m m.

The special-section brick according to Fig. 1 having a break-awaystay-piece may be employed with advantage in the construction of solidceilings. These are constructed by arranging the bricks as headers upona lining of boards in such a manner that the cavities of the bricks willform passages that extend across the span of the ceiling. When thebricks have been laid in position, the stay-pieces are broken away andthe said passages are filled up with cement or concrete after theinsertion therein of iron skeletons of suitable section.

Standard section bricks with a breakaway stay-piece are particularlysuitable for the purpose of fixing dowels in walls or ceilings. For thispurpose the hollow bricks are built or let into the wall or ceiling, andafter the stay-pieces have been broken away the dowels are inserted-intothe said bricks with the aid of suitable binding agents, especially suchas willalso prevent the dowels from absorbing moisture, and thereby ob-.viate the brick being burst through this cause. This manner of fixingwooden dowels by means of bricks having a break-away stay-piece hasgreat advantages over the means of fixing wooden dowels hitherto used.Hitherto such fixing was effected by bricking up the dowels in holesprovided in the walls, so that the cross-grain of the dowel lay exposedto the atmosphere. This method is bad, because, first, the dowels havenot a sufficiently' firm hold, and, second, because the nails driveninto the cross-grain of the dowel cause the wood of the dowel to splitand do not get a sufficiently firm hold therein. The first drawback hasbeen attempted to be remedied by employing wooden wedges as dowels,which were driven into the wall; but in this case also no sufficientlyfirm hold could be obtained. It has further been proposed to employ forthe fixing of dowels bricks provided on their front faces with recessesinto which the dowel was inserted and in which it was fixed by means ofseveral wires. This method of fixin is tedious and is unsatisfactory.The dowe does not get a sufiiciently firm hold and when the wire hasrusted the dowel comes loose.

Now according to this invention there is employed as a dowel a woodenblock out to the shape of the cavity in the brick. The said block isthen so inserted that the crossgrained end of the dowel is situated inthe wall, and the longitudinal grain endlies in front, so that screws,nails, and the like will get afirrnhold therein. The fixing of the dowelitself in the brick is effected by means of a suitable binding. agent.For'this purpose tar asphalt is especially suitable, whereaswater-absorbing bindingagents shouldbe avoided, because they lead to aswelling of the wood and conse uent splitting of the brick. When the hoow bricks have been built in their places, the stay-pieces are. brokenaway and the dowels-dipped in asphalt are pressed into the cavities inthe bricks.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the saidinvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare thatwhat I claim is 1. A hollow brick having'inner and outer grooves to forma breakable stay-piece, saidgrooves arranged to extend into thestaypiece' to the same plane or overlap each other at distances apart,the innergrooves arranged between the outer grooves in thebody of thebrick.

2. A hollow brick or stone havi'nginner and outer groovesinthe bodythereof-'forming a break-away stay-piece and for facilitating theshearing of the latter, said grooves

